Hopper mechanism.



No. 889,706. PATENTED JUNE 2, 1908.

J. c. MERTENS.

HOPPER MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 6, 1907' 3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

PATENTED JUNE 2, 1908.

J; c. MERTBNS. HOPPER MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 6. 1907.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

. g 13111611 or" PATENTED JUNE 2', 1908.

J. G. MERTENS. HOPPER MECHANISM. APPLIOATIONII'LED JULY 6. 1907.

a SHEETS-SHEET a.

Witness es i To all ichom it may concern:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN G. MERTENS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JOSEPH HANREDDY,

OF GHICAGO,-ILLINOIS.

HOPPER MECHANISM.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented-Tune 2, 1908.

Application filed July 6, 1907. Serial No. 382,441.

Be it known that I, JOHN C. l\/IERTENS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cookand State of Illinols, have invented certain new and useful Im rovements in Hopper Mechanism, of which the following is a specification.

This invention more particularly relates tocertain improvements in hopper mechanism for use in connection with concrete mixers.

The-object of the invention is to so construct the hopper that it will lie flat upon the ground and in a position to receive a wheelbarrow load of material dumped thereinto from the ground level, thereby obviating the necessity for providing skids or runways for elevating the load prior to its dis charge into the hopper. This greatly facilitates the mixing operation and relieves the workmen from the trouble and work of running a wheelbarrow up a' skid or runway, and likewise obviates the necessity for providing such structures, which is a matter of importance, in view of the fact that the position of the mixer must, of necessity, be frequentl changed, so that it is highly desirable t at the hopper mechanism be of a form and style that can 'be used without the necessity for providing additional or extraneous structures.

The invention. further relates to brake mechanism for regulating the return of the hopper to normal position after its discharge, whereby the hopper can be maintained in elevated position for a sufficient length oftime to allow. the load carried thereby to be fully discharged, and 'can thereafter be lowered at any suitable speed instead of being violently dropped to the ground, as has been previouslly the case in devices of this kind, which vio ent dropping of the ho per resulted in an imperfect discharge of the, material, in danger to the workmen, and in damage to the mechanism.

The present invention is adapted to. be automatically raised and released and at the same time the device will be under' the perfect control of the operator at all times,

which is a much more satisfactor mode of operating the mixer than by t e use of purely automatic mechanism.

The invention consists in the features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed. 1

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the entire mixer, showing, in full lines, the hopper in its lowered position, and showing, in dotted lines, the hopper in its raised position; Fig. 2 a front end elevation of the same; Fig. 3 a detail showing the brake mechanismfor regulating the descent of the hopper; Fig. 4 a detail, showing the dog actuating trip mechanism; Fig. 5 a perspective view of the hopper {Fig 6 an enlarged detail of the brake mechamsrn; Fig. 7 a

sectional elevation, showing the planetary gear clutch; and Fig. 8 a top or plan view of the shaft and clutch mechanism.

The mixer, to which the hopper actuating mechanism of the present invention is applied, is of an old ty e and its-interior construction need not e fully described. It consists essentially of a latform 9, mounted upon ivoted front whee s 10 and rear wheels 11, w ich adapts the mechanism to be readily moved from place to place. The latform serves as a mounting for a revo uble drum 12, mounted upon rollers 13, which latter are carried by a shaft 14. The construction of the frame and the inethod of revolving the same, however, form no art of the present invention, and other met 10 ds of positioning and mounting the drum may be em loyed. t

he platform, at its front end, has outer upright posts l5 and 16 and an intermediate upright post 17, which posts serve to support an 11 per latforrn 18, which is carried by ongitu lnal y extending sills 19. The upri hts 1'5, 16 and 17 serve to support a hopper s aft '20, which is mounted within journal bearin s 21 on the respective uprights, substan tia ly halfway between the lower and upper.

platforms. Intermediate the uprights 15 and 17 are apair of outwardly curved hopper arms 22, rigidly secured to and movable with the hopper shaft, to which arms a hopper 23 is secured. The hopper com rises side walls 24, which enlarge toward t eir outer ends and which, when lowered, are of sufficient length to reach to and lie flat u on the ground, as shown in Fig. 1. The si e walls are connectedby a rear wall 25, the u per end 26 of which is of uniform width, an the lower end 27v of which is of uniformly increasing width toward its receiving end, the side walls 24 being bent to conform tothe formation of the rear Wall. This gives to the hopper a chute formation at its discharge the side wall and serve to divert the material striking thereon into the body of the hopper. The formation of the hopper is best indicated in Fig. 5, from which it appears that the hop er is continuous from the ground up to the evel of the hopper shaft, being of enlarged formation at its receiving end and contracted formation at its discharging end The hopper arms are connected and the hopper reinforced by means of a brace rod 31, which extends across the discharge ortion of the hopper 'a considerable distance in front 'of, the rear wall thereof, leaving the hopper unobstructed beneath the rod for the discharge of material.

The sidewalls of the hopper, in close proximityto the brace rod, are provided, on their outer faces, with angle plates 32, the pro- 'ecting endsof which are riveted to an angle ar 33, which extends across behind the rear wall of the hopper and serves to further reinforce the hopper and also provide an attachmen't for two fingers 34, which forwardly project from a pair of segmental racks and 36, which are secured to the hoppler' shaft, the former of which is keyed to the opper shaft outside of the upright 15, and the latter of which is likewise keyed to the hopper shaft immediately beyond the upright 17. The segmental racks 35 and 36 are in mesh with a pair of pinions 37, which are mounted on a ower transmission shaft 38, which, like the opper shaft, is mounted within journal boxes 39 on the uprights. The hopper is provided with a yoke 40, the

divergent arms of which are secured, at their free ends, to the flaring guide plates 30, and

the yoke has connected therewith and upwardly extending therefrom a cable 41, which passes over a roller 42 on. the upper platform 18, and a sheave 43 similarly positioned, and terminates in a counterweight 4 44, which serves to facilitate the raising and sion shaft 38 is a power sha t 45, to which is lowering of the ho per. A Immediately be 1nd the ower transmiskeyed a pinion 46 meshing with planetary gears 47, each mounted upon a stub shaft 48, which shafts are carried by a plate 49, loosely mounted upon the power shaft 45. The plate 49 cooperates with a ratchet ring 50, provided with interior gearteeth 51 and provided on its eriphery, at suitable intervals, with ratchet ugs 52, which are adapted to be engaged by a do 53, pivoted on the power transmission sha t 38. The plate 49 is provided with a hub 54, to which is rigidly secured a gear wheel 55, which, like the late, is loosely journaled on the power sha t 45, and the gear wheel 55 meshes with a ear wheel 56, which is keyed or otherwise rigidly secured to the power transmission shaft 38. The power shaft is provided with a beltpulley 57, which is adapted toimpart a constant rotation to the ower shaft 45.

The hopper s aft 20 is provided, near the upright 16, with a collar 58', rovided at a suitable point with a lug 59, w 'ch'lug cooperates witha lug 60 on a bell'crank arm 61, which is pivoted on the hopper shaft 20; and the lower arm of the bell crank lever isconnected, by means of a link 62, with the dog 53, which is immediately beneath the bell crank lever. The upper arm of the bell crank lever is connected with an operating arm 63, provided with a flanged bracket 64, which is slidable upon a rod and is ada ted to compress a spring 66 or other suita le mechanism for exertin an inward tension on the arm when pulled orward out of normal position. 1

Adjacent to the collar 58, upon the hopper shaft 20, is keyed a brake wheel 67, which is surrounded by a band brake 68, rovided with a plurality of shoe blocks 69 a apted to be brought into frictional engagement with the eriphery ofthe wheel. The inner end of the band brake is connected to an upturned finger 70 on the inner end of an 0 erating lever 71, which is pivoted to a ro 72 located above andin parallel relation with the power transmission shaft 38, and the other end 73 of the band brake is connected directly with the lever 71 at a point forward of itsfulcrum. The two ends of the band brakes are connected with each other by means of a link 74, which serves to reinforce the upturned finger 72 and strengthen the lever at the point of eatest tension. A spring 75is connected with the upper portion of the band brake and is adapted to loosen up the brake when the tension on the lever is relieved.

a In use, with the hopper in its lowermost position, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the operatingarm 63 will be retracted by the action of the spring 66, which serves to throw back the upper arm of the bell crank lever, thereby ralsmg the lower arm and with it the dog 53, which raising of the dog releases the ratchet ring 50 and'permits it to run free around the planetary gear wheels, which will be revolved by the action of the center gear wheel 46, which is keyed onto the constantly running power shaft 45. -This freedom of movement of the planetary gears around the center gear wheel :as an axis unclutches the device and preventsuthe transmission of power from the power shaft to the power ment with one of the ratchetv lugs .of the ratchet ring 50. This serves to lock the ring against revolution, and thereafter the revolving of the center gear wheel 46will cause the planetary gears to travel around the gear wheel46 as a bearingyand this action of the planetary gear wheels rotates the plate 49, to

which they are attached, and-with it the gear wheel 55,,which imparts rotation to the gear wheel 56 and the shaft 38 upon which the pinions 37 are mounted. The rotation of the pinions 37 actuates the segmental racks,

which are rigidly secured to the ho per shaft,

so that the hopper will be swung t rough the arc of a circle out of its lowered position into the position shownindotted lines in Fig. 1,

and this upward movement will be facilitated by the counterweight. When. the ho per has reached its u permost position, the sick or cross wall will he tilted, allowing the material to slide down throughthe contractedinnerend or chute like portion of the hopper,

and thence into the stationary chute 28 and into the revolving drum. This movementof the hopper shaft carries with the collar 58 having thereon the .lug 59, which will be moved through the arc of a circle until it engages the companion lug 60 on'the bell crank. When the two lugs have thus beenbrought into engagement, the bell crank will be' carried around until the lower arm thereof has been sufficiently raised to release the dog 53 from engagement with the ratchet ring, thereby releasing the planetary clutch mechanism and allowing the empty hopper to as scend by gravity.

The above described operating mechanism is of a wellknown descrlption, but in use it has been found that the automatic releasing of the lanetary clutch and the sudden descent of the hopper frequently resulted in imerfect discharge of the material from the opper and in accidents to workmen and also in vlolent falling of the hopper, which tended to rack the machine. and impair its operation. To avoid these disastrous consequences, the brake mechanism heretofore described has been invented, which permits the operator, after initially pulling forward the starting arm or lever 63, to fix his attention upon the hop er, and when the latter has reached its disc arging position, to depress the brake lever and clampthe band brake on the brake wheel, which enables the o erator to'control the descent of the hopper after the automatic trip mechanism has released the clutch, so that a perfect discharge of material can be secured and accidents prevented and the descent of the empty hopper regulated. The

brake mechanism is located at a point of easy lifting o eration from the ground'to the point of disc arge being performed by ower,- which is a much more rapid'and satis actory method of operating the device than that prevailing in concrete mixers of the usual t e. gVhat Iregard as new and desire to secure j by Letters Patent is v 1. In mechanism of the general class described, the combination of a hopper having its discharge opening above the ground level, mechanism for raising the hop er, means for automatically unclutching suc mechanism, and a hand actuated brakefor regulating the return movement of the hopper, 'substantially as described."

2. In mechanismf of the general class described, the combination of a hopper shaft, a'hopper rigidly secured to the hopper shaft, a power shaft, a clutch mechanism for regulating the transmission of power shaft to thehop er s aft, automatic trip mechanism on the opper shaft for releasing. the clutch mechanism when the hopper has reached its uppermost position, and a hand actuated brake mechamsm for regulating the return movement of the hopper, substantially as described. 3. In mechanism of the general a power shaft, a clutch mechanism for regulating the transmission of ower from the power shaft to the hop er s aft, automatic trip mechanism on the opper shaft for re leasing the clutch mechanism when the hoper. has reached its uppermost osition, a Brake. wheel on the hopper sha t, a hand brake surrounding. the brake wheel, and a 15 scribed, the combination of a hopper shaft, 120

a hopper rigidly secured to the shaft and comprising a rear cross'wall, side walls and a bottom, the latter being flush with the ground when the hopper is lowered, a power shaft, a clutch mechanism adapted to regu-.

late the transmission from the power shaft to the hopper shaft, releasing mechanism 'on' the hopper shaft adapted to automatically 'release the clutch when the hopper has reachedits highest position, and a hand ac- 130 material above the ground level, the entire ower from the class des scribed, the combination of a hopper shaft, I a-h'opper rigidly secured to the hopper shaft,

tuated brake for regulating the return movement of the hopper, substantially as described.

5. In mechanism of the generalclass de-. scribed, the combination ofa hopper shaft, a hopper rigidly secured to the shaft and comprising a rear cross wall, side walls and a bottom, the latter being flush with the ground when the hopper is lowered, a power shaft, aclutch mechanism adapted to regue' late the transmission from the power shaft to the hopper shaft, releasing mechanism onthe-hopper shaft adapted to automatically and a brake Wheel on the hopper shaft, a

band brake surroundin the brake wheel, a lever for actuating the and brake for regulating the return movement of the hopper, substantially as described.

JOHN C. MERTENS. Witnesses:

-SAMUEL W. BANNING,

WALKER BANNING. 

